Talk:Episode 104: Where the Wind blows/@comment-4784241-20130102102104
OK, time for Sol's take. This will get a bit long. At the beginning of this season, Aichi lost his Royal Paladin deck, and it was replaced with Gold Paladin. Aichi felt lost about this, having lost the deck that he was so comfortable with. He had literally been taken out of his comfort zone, and his confidence suffered as a result. Kai even criticised Aichi about this during their fight. Aichi had to become much stronger as an overall player, and in the end gaining more confidence befitting the leader he became. Even in Season 1, he still wasn't really "Leader" material like he became in Season 2. In season 1, we saw that Aichi became fairly attached to the Clans he used, hence him still using Blaster Dark and saying after Ren refused to take the deck back that they had fought by his side as well, so he didn't really want to reject them outright. Aichi in Season 2 had in turn become attached to his Gold Paladin comrades that made him a stronger person. When given the choice to go back to his Royal Paladins at the end of this season, Aichi, while still attached to his Royal Paladins, decided to stick with his Gold Paladins that had helped shape him into a Leader. Aichi said his farewell to his old Clan, even if it meant saying goodbye to his original avatar, but Blaster Blade, seeing his resolve and wanting to still be with his "Vanguard", decided to lead his troops to join with the Gold Paladins so that they could still be by Aichi's side. I don't think ALL of the old Royals will be joining Gold, but those used by Aichi will be. Some may even have duel clan capability, we don't know yet. But overall, I felt this was probably the best outcome that they could have done with regards to Aichi's character development. Yes, I feel the pain of Royal Paladin players in seeing some of the iconic Royals becoming Golds, but at least they did it in a way that made sense lore wise. I still think we're going to see more Royals, and I still think that Kourin is going to use them. But the Liberator series of cards do seem to be mostly based in old Royal Paladin units used by Aichi (but not all of them). I do agree that this season felt a bit rushed, and that they could have shown more of some of the side fights that happened at the end, but oh well. I still think the ending was fitting, and I really look forward to seeing what Season 3 has in store. Also, this episode pretty much confirms our suspicions from the beginning that Takuto was Ezel, though more specifically, that Ezel was possessing Takuto. Hence Takuto's change in personality when he presented the trophy after Ezel left Takuto, as noted by the mark on his forehead disappearing. The Takuto in Season 3 will probably be much different than the one from Season 2, kind of like how Ren was much different in Season 2 than 1. Anyways, that's my 2 cents. Take it or leave it.